Former NFL large receiver Demaryius Thomas, who died final 12 months at age 33, had CTE, in line with Boston University researchers who studied the late NFL star’s mind.
Thomas — who was most recognized within the NFL for taking part in for the Denver Broncos and successful a Super Bowl with them — is one among greater than 300 former NFL gamers who’ve been recognized with CTE by the BU CTE Center analysis crew.
The scientists recognized Thomas with stage 2 of 4 power traumatic encephalopathy, which is related to progressive habits, cognitive and temper abnormalities. In the years earlier than he died, Thomas developed melancholy, nervousness, panic assaults and hassle along with his reminiscence. Stage 4 is essentially the most extreme stage of CTE and is normally related to dementia.
“Like so many that have gone before, we found stage 2 CTE in the brain of Demaryius Thomas,” mentioned Ann McKee, director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF/UNITE Brain Bank.
“The query I preserve asking myself is, ‘When will enough be enough?’” McKee added. ” ‘When will athletes, parents and the public at large stop ignoring the risks of American football and insist that the game be changed to reduce subconcussive hits?’ ”
Thomas’ household on Tuesday launched the findings of his mind research by means of the Concussion Legacy Foundation to assist elevate consciousness of CTE and urge the soccer group to help analysis.
“Once I became aware of CTE and began to familiarize myself with the symptoms, I noticed that Demaryius was isolating himself and I saw other changes in him,” mentioned Demaryius’ mom Katina Smith.
“He was just so young, and it was horrible to see him struggle,” she added. “His father and I hope all families learn the risks of playing football. We don’t want other parents to have to lose their children like we did.”
Thomas performed 10 seasons within the NFL for the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Houston Texans. He additionally spent the 2019 offseason with the New England Patriots earlier than getting traded in late August previous to the common season.
Overall, Thomas performed 16 years of sort out soccer earlier than saying his retirement at age 33 in 2021, six months earlier than his loss of life. His explanation for loss of life has not been reported.
There has been hypothesis his loss of life could also be associated to an epileptic seizure. Although late-stage CTE may be related to epilepsy, it’s much more doubtless that he developed post-traumatic epilepsy after a motorized vehicle accident and fall he skilled a number of years earlier than his loss of life.
“We are honored to include Mr. Thomas in our long list of brain donors (more than 1,250),” the BU CTE Center mentioned in a press release. “Brain donation to the BU CTE Center has been the catalyst for meteoric advances in scientific understanding of CTE over the past decade.”
Researchers hope to have the ability to diagnose CTE in dwelling individuals, together with deal with the mind situation whereas the individual is alive.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”